14 shops fined for breaking trading laws – Maputo

8:43 CAT | 29 Dec 2016

File photo / A street in Maputo

The Mozambican government’s National Inspectorate of Economic Activities (INAE) fined 14 shops and other commercial establishments last week for violations of the legislation governing trading activities, reports Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the INAE General Isnpector, Maria Freitas, said the establishments fined were among a total of 530 inspected throughout the country, including 199 in Maputo city.

Among the irregularities detected, she said, were the sale of products beyond their expiry dates or in a poor state of conservation, defective hygiene and cleanliness, and lack of the legally required health record booklet for the workers.

Other problems included lack of uniforms for the workers, the mixing of food and non-food products, and failure to display the prices charged.

The work of the inspectorate, Freitas said, is intended to combat speculation and hoarding, and to prevent shops from selling expired goods. The inspectors discovered expired goods, and goods in a poor state of preservation, valued at 41,526 meticais (585 US dollars). These goods will be destroyed.

Freitas said that INAE also worked with traders to ensure that there will be no shortage of foodstuffs during the festive season, and no risk of stocks running out which, in past years, has led to price speculation.

Joint brigades from INAE, the National Norms and Quality Institute (INNOQ), and Maputo City Council paid special attention to the Zimpeto wholesale market, on the outskirts of the capital, to ensure that there were sufficient stocks for the coming period.

Freitas said that the prices at Zimpeto were stable – but some of the wholesalers were cheating their customers by selling goods of insufficient weight.

Using INNOQ’s scales, the brigades checked the weight of sacks of potatoes, and found several cases in which sacks supposedly containing ten kilos in fact only weighed seven or eight kilos.